


Naming Day

by K (Thiswasmydesign)



Series: Wammy's House Series [1]
Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, Boys of wammy's house, Drabble, Gen, M/M, Wammy House
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 07:49:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13759563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thiswasmydesign/pseuds/K
Summary: The time has come for the 8th generation at wammy's house to choose their names.Near reflects.





	Naming Day

**Author's Note:**

> A short drabble since I didn't get chance to properly write today and it wouldn't leave me alone
> 
> Probably been done before but if it has I couldn't find it in Ao3

Near had always been a cheat.

L had always been a liar. Of course, to be successful as a cheat, you also had to be a liar: Near had taken L's talent and built upon it, as was his right as heir and successor.

The eight generation of Wammy's house - the less that was said about the seventh, the better, so far as Near was concerned - would build on these skills as well some day.

Long before that though, they had to choose their code names. A name they would be known by for the rest of their life until - unless - they inherited the title of L.

"How did you choose your name?" One of the boys had asked Near, innocently curious.

And so Near had explained: generations of names. A and B; the generation after L's own. He didnt know how A had chosen his name, but supposed it was A for Almost or After, since it was meant to be him that would be primed to be L.

Wammys had given B his; Backup. A derogatory title, the Backup L. No wonder he had a problem with it and strove to make it so that B would stand for Beyond, instead. They learned from their mistakes after that. The next generations picked their own names, but they were footnotes on the history of Wammy's house.

For Near and Mello, their names grew up with them.

"Mellow out, Mihael!" had been a favourite line of Matt; soon this had been adopted by Wammy, whose scolding was at first effective enough that all he had to say to stop the boy in his tracks would be a sharp "Mellow!"

By the time names were chosen, Mello knew it as a nickname; he kept it for himself.  
Near was suggested by the other boys too.

"That little white one over there... yeah, the one that's like a ghost... the creepy sheep... you know which one I mean, the one that's always near Mello."

Near was generally a very emotionless sort, but he was also sharp and dangerous. A few carefully located pieces of lego could cause a lot of pain; soon, any descriptions of him as a ghost, a sheep, or little, were filtered out of the Wammy's children.

Soon, if discussing him, it was always "that kid that hangs out Near Mello"

Then; "that kid Near..."

Always Near; never with; where he truely wanted to be, but dare not say. If Mello had rejected him, he would not have been able to remain Near to him.

It became his defining characteristic, so when Wammy suggested that he needed to take a pseudonym, it had been the obvious choice.

And then Mello had left, and Near felt lost.

So he had no choice; without Mello, he could only strive to be Near-ly alike with L; the other meaning of his name.

When Mello died, Near died with him.

He took the title of L, and never allowed anyone to know him as Near again.

Near could no longer be Near without Mello, after all.

Of course, he didn't tell the Wammy's boy this; he lied instead.

L was a liar.

L was a cheat.

Soon, it would be up to the next generation to build on this.

Soon enough, he would be Near Mello again.

L clutched the rosary in his pocket, unseen by any eyes but his own, and impatiently awaited an opponent good enough to defeat him.


End file.
